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The Warning
警告
"I am inclined to think..." said I.
"我倒以为..."我说。
"I should do so," Sherlock Holmes remarked impatiently.
"我应当这样做，"福尔摩斯急躁地说。
I believe that I am one of the most long-suffering of mortals; but I'll admit that I was annoyed at the sardonic interruption.
我自信是一个极有耐性的人；可是，我得承认，他这样嘲笑地打断我的话，的确使我有点不快。
"Really, Holmes," said I severely, "you are a little trying at times."
因此我严肃地说："福尔摩斯，说真的，你有时真叫人有点难堪。"
He was too much absorbed with his own thoughts to give any immediate answer to my remonstrance.
他全神贯注地沉思，没有即刻回答我的抗议。
He leaned upon his hand, with his untasted breakfast before him, and he stared at the slip of paper which he had just drawn from its envelope.
他一只手支着头，面前放着一口未尝的早餐，两眼凝视着刚从信封中抽出来的那张纸条。
Then he took the envelope itself, held it up to the light, and very carefully studied both the exterior and the flap.
然后他拿起信封，举到灯前，非常仔细地研究它的外观和封口。
"It is Porlock's writing," said he thoughtfully.
"这是波尔洛克的笔迹，"他若有所思地说。
"I can hardly doubt that it is Porlock's writing, though I have seen it only twice before.
"尽管我以前只见过两次波尔洛克的笔迹，我也毫不怀疑这小条就是他写的。
The Greek e with the peculiar top flourish is distinctive. But if it is Porlock, then it must be something of the very first importance."
希腊字母e上端写成花体，这就是它的特色。不过，这要真是波尔洛克写的，那它就一定有极为重要的事了。"
He was speaking to himself rather than to me; but my vexation disappeared in the interest which the words awakened.
他是在自言自语，而不是对我说的，可是这番话却引起了我的兴趣，使我的不快为之烟消云散。
"Who then is Porlock?" I asked.
"那么，波尔洛克是什么人呢？"
"Porlock, Watson, is a nom-de-plume, a mere identification mark; but behind it lies a shifty and evasive personality.
"华生，波尔洛克是个假名，它不过是一个人的身分符号而已；可是在它背后却是一个诡计多端、难以捉摸的人物。
In a former letter he frankly informed me that the name was not his own, and defied me ever to trace him among the teeming millions of this great city.
在前一封信里，他直言不讳地告诉我，这不是他的名字，并且公然向我指出，要想在这大都会的茫茫人海中去追踪他是徒劳无益的。
Porlock is important, not for himself, but for the great man with whom he is in touch.
波尔洛克之所以重要，并不在于他本身，而在于他所结交的那个大人物。
Picture to yourself the pilot fish with the shark, the jackal with the lion -- anything that is insignificant in companionship with what is formidable:
你想想看，一条鲭鱼和一条鲨鱼，一只豺狼和一头狮子--总之，一个本身虽不是了不起的东西一旦和一个凶恶的怪物携起手来，那会怎么样呢？
not only formidable, Watson, but sinister–in the highest degree sinister.
那怪物不仅凶恶，而且阴险至极，华生。
That is where he comes within my purview. You have heard me speak of Professor Moriarty?"
据我看来，他就是这样一个怪物。你听说过有个莫里亚蒂教授吗？"
